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Union representatives for Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra musicians are spilling more details about negotiations with ISO management, which is planning major structural changes to address the orchestra's ongoing financial issues.

The ISO, one of only 17 full-time orchestras in the nation, is proposing shifting to part-time status as part of a plan to address the longstanding problems.

Proposals have changed slightly since Tuesday, when IBJ first reported on the ISO’s proposed cutbacks, but the sides are still far apart on the big issues.

According to a blog launched by the musicians Thursday morning to provide updates on contract negotiations, ISO management wants to take the following cost-cutting measures:

- Reduce the ISO schedule from 52 weeks a year to 38 weeks.

- Reduce the 87 musicians to 63. Fourteen would be terminated, effective Monday.

The musician's union said it is willing to take a 13.9-percent pay cut and 14 weeks of unpaid furloughs over the contract’s five years, the blog says. It says those concessions amount to $3.8 million over the contract.

Negotiators have until Sunday night to reach a consensus on musicians’ contracts before the collective bargaining agreements expire on Labor Day.

Rick Graef, chairman of the union's negotiating committee, said both sides seemed intent on meeting the deadline, but they are especially held up on the schedule of cutbacks and layoffs.

The ISO said it won’t comment on the discussions until there is an agreement.

Administrators have asked for the concessions as the organization has tried to correct ongoing financial issues. The past three fiscal years have finished with million-dollar deficits.

If negotiators reach their deadline with no agreement, they can either agree to extend the current contract until there is a deal or they can declare an impasse.

Both sides have said they hope to reach an agreement.

"We're still negotiating. We're still in good faith at the table," Graef said. "... We're still hoping it will happen, but time's running out."

Human came to IBJ in June 2012 after a three-year stint at the Kokomo Tribune, where he covered Tipton County before becoming a business reporter in one of the most automotive-industry-oriented cities in the country. He grew up in the northwest Indiana town of Schererville, where he graduated from Lake Central High School. He collected a degree from Ball State University in 2009. Human and his wife, Val, now live in Noblesville. They spend as much free time as they can outdoors, frequently traveling to state parks with their Australian cattle dog mix, Oscar. More docile interests include reading, listening to music and cooking/eating.